Of Fury & Shadow

Chapter 3

Three weeks. That is the amount of time it took for Selene's life to become unrecognizable. After the queen's trial things had moved quickly. Messages were sent to the king of Durin informing him of the change in the amazons leadership. His answer expressed his regret at the late queen's passing and assured them that he was interested in meeting with the new queen to discuss the peace that he hoped they both wanted. Messages were passed back and forth until it was agreed that the amazons would bring a small group of representatives to the king's castle where the peace talks would be held. A meeting was called with the leaders of the tribes to better assess the state of the Amazon nation as a whole. All the while her people watched her. She was never allowed to leave the camp alone even though she and the king had agreed to a cease fire. She wished for the life she used to have, second daughter to the queen whose only responsibility was to be a good solider. She had no idea how Sabeer handled this level of constant attention. She wished that she could at least ask her sister for her opinions or advice but that door had been closed to her when Sabeer moved out of their tent.

It didn't surprise Selene that she left. She knew that her sister had to discover who she was if she wasn't the queen and Selene had to discover how being queen would change her. She only wished that it was something they could do together. She would spend the few spare moments she had in her tent thinking of the times she had spent there with her mother and sister. Now she was there alone with the weight of a nation.

"Storms coming." Came Leala's voice from somewhere inside the tent. Selene rolled her eyes, she should never assume she was alone. The first thing she had done for herself as queen was to appoint Leala as her body guard and her best friend took the job seriously.

"It was sunny outside a few minutes ago." She said as she rose to her feet and began to slowly turn listening for where the shadow warriors voice was coming from.

"I was referring to your face. You scrunch it up when you are thinking of unpleasant things, like your sister." The voice moved to the far corner of the tent near Sabeer's abandoned cot.

"Is that why you are here watching me from the shadows? I remember asking you not to do that." She answered her friend before redirecting towards a large shadow beneath a table piled high with tributes given to her by amazons seeking her favor.

"And I told you that I will only follow orders that will not keep me from performing my duty." Came the disembodied voice. Selene slowly crouched low beside the table. She studied the shadow carefully before plunging her hand into it like water and pulling up Leala by the ear.

"Ouch! Let go, you promised you wouldn't do that anymore." Said Leala pulling herself completely out of the shadows and rubbing her ear while Selene laughed.

"I'm sorry but what threats were you guarding me from under the table?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest. Leala stopped messaging her ear and straightened placing her hands on her hips.

"I'm glad you asked, I was trying to get a better look at all these tribute gifts. You never know what someone could hide in them, a hex or maybe even poison." Leala took on a mock serious tone as she began to rifle through the items. She picked up a dagger sheathed in finely made leather with an equally fine belt and pouch. "This is obviously hexed, I'll have to take this to examine later." She said securing the leather belt on her hips.

"There's also some very nice armor and spiced wine." Said Selene walking up to the table.

"No, you're smaller than I am, the armor won't fit but that spiced wine does look suspicious."

" I thought you would say that." She watched as Leala uncorked the wine skin and took a long pull from it.

"Oh, that is good. I would let you have some if it wasn't so dangerous." Leala sat in a low chair by the fire and took another sip of wine. "You've gotten some nice things. Do you think the tribal leaders will bring you something as well?"